Page 14 of My Return to the Walter Boys
“What about Cole?”
“What about him?” I replied, even though I wasn’t ready to have this conversation. Not before I’d spoken with him. Nevertheless, I should have anticipated Heather’s question. It was a given that my friends would want to know where I stood with Cole, especially after I explained how things ended between me and his brother.
“You and Alex are over,” she said as if this was the only explanation needed. “Has Cole made a move yet?”
Not recently, I thought. No way would I be sharing details about our goodbye kiss, though. They’d never let it go. The four of us would be here until Christmas, dissecting all three seconds of that moment as if there were nothing more newsworthy than kissing one of the Walter boys. Instead, I asked, “Why would you think there’s anything going on between us?”
“Please,” Riley said, rolling her eyes so hard she probably caught a glimpse of her brain. “Just because you were dating Alex doesn’t mean everyone and their mother couldn’t see how bad Cole had it for you. The sexual tension was suffocating.”
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet,” I said, sidestepping the question as best I could. “He doesn’t live at the ranch anymore.”
“But what about this summer?” Heather pressed. “Didn’t you talk at all?”
I was saved from having to answer when something caught Skylar’s attention. He pushed himself into a sitting position and nudged his sunglasses down. “Well, you better figure out what you’re going to say,” he said, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “Your chance is heading straight this way.”
“What?” I followed his gaze and—
My heart lurched in my chest. Cutting through the crowd as if he were on a mission was Cole, his attention already fixed on me. Unlike Alex, he hadn’t changed at all while I was away. His eyes were the samestartling shade of blue, his skin perfectly tanned. Same tousled golden locks and self-assured confidence. I couldn’t forget how devastatingly handsome he was, how it felt when he looked at me, but remembering and experiencing the weight of his gaze were two vastly different things, and my entire body thrummed with awareness. For a moment, all I could do was watch him. He didn’t look angry, but there was a determined gleam in his eyes that made me squirm.
“Yeah, definitelynothinggoing on between you two,” Riley said, snapping me out of my trance. Heather and Skylar both laughed.
They weren’t wrong, but that didn’t change my decision.
Not wanting an audience for what would undoubtedly be an awkward conversation, I scrambled to my feet and went to meet him, disregarding both my sandals and my friends’ good-natured heckling. The dried-out grass prickled against my bare feet as I crossed the lawn, but I was too focused on Cole to truly notice. We reached the sidewalk at the same time, stopping three feet from each other, but Cole didn’t say anything. He just stared down at me, his face blank. The fluttering in my chest quickly turned unpleasant and panicky. Then, right as I convinced myself that he was only here to chew me out, that infuriating smirk of his made an appearance.
“Hey, New York. Miss me?”
The mounting dread melted away, but since our usual repartee operated on his smug attitude and my pretense of irritation, I clamped down on my urge to smile. “What would it take for you to forget that awful nickname?”
“Well,Jacqueline”—he looked me up and down—“I might be able to think of a few things.”
I huffed. Even though I rarely told anyone my full name, I didn’t bother asking how he learned such confidential information. Probably Danny, the traitor. “No one calls me that.”
“Yeah, but everybody else uses Jackie.” He stepped forward, his gaze dropping to my mother’s necklace. Without a word, he lifted the pendant with deft fingers and briefly inspected it before letting the flower settle back against my breastbone. When his eyes found mine again, he hit me with another smile. “I wanna be special.”
A big part of me wanted to tell him he already was special, almost everyone thought so, but that was too embarrassing of a confession to make. I opted to change the subject instead. “How was your summer?”
He shrugged. “I spent the majority of it working and not nearly enough time talking to you.”
“I’m sorry, Cole. I know—”
“Stop,” he said firmly. “I don’t need an apology. You had some heavy shit to deal with, and we should probably talk about it at some point. I promised my mom I’d be home for dinner tomorrow since I missed last night, so maybe then? But I just finished a twelve-hour shift at the Gas Exchange. All I wanna do is hang out and have some fun.”
I wanted to say yes, to have one nice night together before I blew everything up, but would that be fair? Cole clearly wasn’t mad at me, at least not enough to hold a grudge for what happened over the summer,so it was safe to assume he wanted to pick up where we left off. Giving him the impression that I wanted the same thing would be selfish.
When Cole’s brow arched at my silence, I realized I was overthinking. While I couldn’t give him the relationship he wanted, maybe tonight would be enough? He’d be gone soon, anyway. I glanced back at my friends, who were watching us like they were at the movies. The hesitation must have been clear on my face, because Heather offered me a stern look and made a shooing motion. Skylar chucked my sandals at me.
Well, I guess that settles it, I thought as I turned back to Cole.
“All right,” I said in agreement. “Hang out and fun. I think I can handle that.”
***
As soon as I slipped on my sandals, Cole took my hand in his and led me into the teeming street. He must have had a destination in mind, because he wove through the crowd with a steadfast focus. I let him pull me along without saying a word as it kept him from noticing how deeply our woven fingers made me blush.
Once my face cooled down, I cleared my throat. “Where are we going?”
“The block party was my favorite part of summer when I was a kid, so I thought I’d show you the highlights, relive the glory days and all that.”
